Weekly Ocean News

DATASTREME OCEAN WEEK TWELVE: 30-4 December 2015

Items of Interest:

• United Nations climate change conference to commence in Paris -- The 2015 2015 Paris Climate Conference, officially known as COP21 (for the 21st Conference of Parties), will commence on Monday (30 November). This conference is expected to attract 50,000 participants including 25,000 official delegates from government, intergovernmental organizations, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and the public society and is intended to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping the global temperature rise below 2 Celsius degrees. [COP21 Paris]
• Beginning of meteorological winter season -- The winter meteorological season in the Northern Hemisphere starts on Tuesday (1 December). Recall that climatologists and meteorologists have elected to use a standard three-month grouping to identify each meteorological season. Hence, the months of December, January and February are considered the winter meteorological season. You will note that the winter solstice, marking the day where the length of daylight is least in the Northern Hemisphere is still three weeks away, falling on Monday, 21 December 2015. Since the lowest temperatures typically fall in mid to late January, the meteorological winter tends to be centered on the coldest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
• The 2015 hurricane seasons reviewed -- With the end of the official 2015 hurricane season in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific on Monday (30 November 2015), a quick review of this year's tropical cyclone statistics for the official 2015 hurricane season has been made for both basins. [AMS DataStreme Atmosphere]
  For those who are interested in obtaining historic hurricane information, the "Historical Hurricanes Mapping & Analysis Tool" developed by NOAA allows the search and display of detailed data for more than 6000 tropical cyclones in seven of the planet's major ocean basins based upon a data set that runs from 1842 to 2014. Coastal population trends are also available for the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States.
• Tropical cyclone climatologies of North Atlantic and the eastern North Pacific -- The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has an updated and revised edition of its "Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean, 1851-2006." While a paper copy of this book is available for a cost from NHC, a 243-pg pdf file of this edition can be downloaded for free. NHC also released the first edition of "Tropical Cyclones of the Eastern North Pacific Ocean, 1949-2006." In addition to a paper copy is available for sale, a free 164-page pdf file is available. Both of these climatologies have numerous graphics that show long-term changes in tropical cyclone frequency in the two basins.
  A climatology of tropical cyclones in the central North Pacific from the 1950s to 2008 is available from the CPHC climatology website maintained by the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) in Honolulu, HI.
• It's Sure Dark! -- Have you noticed that the sun is setting early these days? During the first ten days of December, many locations throughout the country will experience their earliest sunset times of the year. The exact day for the earliest sunset depends upon the latitude, so you may want to check the date in your locale from the sunrise tables appearing in an on-line, interactive service available for the entire year at most cities in the United States. The reason for the earliest sunsets occurring in early December rather than on the winter solstice (during the evening hours of Monday, 21 December 2015) is that the sun is not as precise a timekeeper as our watches. Because of a combination of factors involved with Earth's elliptical orbit about the sun and the tilt of Earth's spin axis with respect to the plane of the ecliptic, the sun appears to "run fast" by as much as 15 minutes as compared with clock time in November. However, with the approach of the winter solstice and perihelion (the smallest earth-sun distance during the late afternoon of 2 January 2016), the apparent sun slows during December and finally lags the clock by 12 minutes in February. Consequently, a noticeable and welcome trend toward later sunsets can be detected by the end of December, especially by those residents in the northern part of the country. However, the latest sunrises occur at most locales in early January, meaning that early risers will continue seeing dark and dreary mornings for another month.
• SKYWARN™ recognition -- Next Saturday 6 December 2014 (starting at 00Z or 7:00 EST PM on Friday night) has been declared SKYWARN™ Recognition Day, a day in which the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League celebrate the contributions made by volunteer SKYWARN™ radio operators during the past year's Severe Weather Operations.
• Accessing and interpreting climate data -- If you would like to obtain a variety of climate data for your home town or state that are available from the National Weather Service, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth. This Supplemental not only identifies some of the sites to find the data, but also provides you with a brief explanation of the terminology used to identify the climate data.

Ocean in the News:

• Eye on the Tropics -- Tropical cyclones were found in the Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere and in the Southern Hemisphere's Indian Ocean during the last week:
• In the eastern North Pacific basin, a tropical depression formed early last week nearly 500 miles to the south of Acapulco along the southwestern coast of Mexico. This system rapidly intensified to become Tropical Storm Sandra, the 18th named tropical cyclone of 2015 in the basin as it traveled westward and then to the west-northwest. Within a day Sandra became a hurricane as it traveled northward and by midweek had intensified to become a major category-4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) as maximum sustained surface winds reached almost 145 mph. As a result, Hurricane Sandra became the strongest hurricane on record in the eastern North Pacific to develop so late in the season. Sandra weakened to a tropical storm during the late week as it traveled toward the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. By Saturday morning wind shear was causing Tropical Storm Sandra to disintegrate and become a post-tropical cyclone or remnant low approximately 90 miles to the southeast of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja. Additional information and satellite imagery are available for Hurricane Sandra on the NASA Hurricane Page.
• In western North Pacific Typhoon In-Fa traveled toward the west-northwest passing well to the southwest of Iwo To (formerly Iwo Jima), Japan at the beginning of last week. Curving to the north and then northeast, this former category 4 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale) weakened and became an extratropical cyclone by late in the week near Iwo To. Consult the NASA Hurricane Page for satellite images and more information on Typhoon In-Fa.
• In the South Indian Ocean Basin, Tropical Storm Annabelle tracked to the south-southeast well to the south of Diego Garcia. By midweek this tropical storm had dissipated. The NASA Hurricane Page has additional information and satellite images on Tropical Storm Annabelle.
  
• Australian tropical cyclone season outlook issued -- Forecasters at the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology recently released an outlook for the upcoming 2015-16 Australian tropical cyclone season that typically begins in November and runs through April. These forecasters foresee that a 90 percent chance exists for a below average tropical cyclone activity in the five regions that surround that continent. Their outlook for a less active season is based upon the strong El Niño conditions that are occurring across the tropical Pacific Ocean. Typically, the waters around Australia experience fewer tropical cyclones during El Niño events and few of these systems make landfall on the continent. [Australian Bureau of Meteorology]
• Algal toxin closes California's Dungeness and razor clam fisheries -- Earlier in November the California Fish and Game Commission closed the state's year-round rock crab fishery north of Ventura and delayed the opening of the recreational and commercial Dungeness crab fishery due to potentially toxic levels of harmful algae. These closures are the most recent record algal bloom along the West Coast because of the unusually warm water that has persisted along the coast during this summer and fall. The current major El Niño event has contributed to the above average temperatures across the eastern North Pacific. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
• Springtime algal bloom in South Atlantic -- With spring unfolding in the Southern Hemisphere, a true-color image made from data collected two weeks ago by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor onboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite shows phytoplankton communities in the South Atlantic between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island. [NASA]
• 40th Anniversary of Magnuson-Stevens Act celebrated-- NOAA Fisheries observed the upcoming 40th anniversary of the signing of Magnuson-Stevens Act in April 1976 with a collection of features and podcasts that demonstrate the successes the agency has experienced due to its implementation. This act, the primary law governing marine fisheries managed in federal waters, has been viewed as prevented overfishing, rebuilt overfished stocks, increased long-term economic benefits and and ensured a safe and sustainable seafood supply.[NOAA Fisheries Feature Stories]
• An All-Hazards Monitor -- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]
• Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com].

Concept of the Week: Climate Feedback Processes

Earth's climate system includes many interacting variables. Some variables are external to the Earth-atmosphere system and some are internal. External variables include solar energy output and Earth-sun geometry (i.e., the Milankovitch cycles). Internal variables include properties of the Earth's surface (e.g., albedo, moisture), the concentration of key atmospheric components (e.g., greenhouse gases, sulfurous aerosols), and cloud cover and thickness.

An important consideration in understanding how Earth's climate system responds to some perturbation is feedback. Feedback is defined as a sequence of interactions among variables in a system that determines how the system responds to some initial perturbation in one or more of the variables. Variables in Earth's climate system may interact in such a way as to either amplify (positive feedback) or lessen (negative feedback) a change in climate. An example of positive feedback is the ice-albedo effect described in Chapter 12 of the AMS Ocean Studies textbook. Less ice cover in the Arctic greatly reduces the albedo of the Arctic Ocean causing higher sea surface temperatures and accelerated melting of the multiyear pack ice.

Consider an example of negative feedback. Increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide enhances the greenhouse effect causing global warming. Global warming in turn raises sea surface temperatures and increases the rate of evaporation. A more humid atmosphere means more persistent and thicker cloud cover but clouds have both a cooling and warming effect on the lower atmosphere. The relatively high albedo of cloud tops causes cooling whereas absorption and emission of infrared radiation by clouds causes warming by contributing to the greenhouse effect. Satellite measurements and numerical models indicate that cooling would dominate.

In general, negative feedback tends to dominate over positive feedback in Earth's climate system, limiting the magnitude of climate change. The great thermal inertia of the ocean is the principal reason for dampening the planetary temperature response.

Concept of the Week: Questions

1. Feedback in Earth's climate system that amplifies climate change is described as [(positive)(negative)] feedback.
2. In general, [(negative)(positive)] feedback tends to prevail in Earth's climate system.

Historical Events:

• 1 December 1969...Ocean swells generated by a storm more than 1000 miles to the north-northwest of the French Frigate Shoals produced 50-foot high surf along the outer shoals of Tern Island, submerging the 300-foot wide island under two to three feet of water. The 19-member Coast Guard contingent was evacuated, but considerable damage was done to buildings. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 1 December 1990...Workers from the United Kingdom and France on the Channel Tunnel construction project met approximately 120 feet beneath the English Channel seabed, to establish the first ground connection between the British Isles and mainland Europe since the last Ice Age. (Wikipedia)
• 2 December 1755...The second Eddystone Lighthouse near Plymouth, England was destroyed by fire. This light had replaced an earlier light that had been destroyed in the "Great 1703 Storm." The current structure is the fourth light to be constructed at that site. (Wikipedia)
• 3 December 1952...A remarkable display of sea smoke was seen in Hong Kong harbor. The sea-smoke, induced by a strong surge of arctic air, poured from the water of Kowloon Bay from 8 AM to 9:30 AM. The air temperature near the sea wall was 44 degrees F. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 December 1992...The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea carrying 80,000 tons of crude oil ran aground in a storm while approaching La Coruña, Spain, spilling much of its cargo. (Wikipedia)
• 3 December 1999...After rowing for 81 days and 2962 miles, Tori Murden became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat alone when she reached Guadeloupe after departing from the Canary Islands. (Wikipedia)
• 4 December 1786...The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced high seas at Nantucket that did great damage. (David Ludlum)
• 4-13 December 1991...Tropical Cyclone Val with gusts to 150 mph caused $700 million damage. Seventeen deaths were reported in American and Western Samoa, with 95 percent of the houses in Savaii either destroyed or badly damaged. Savaii was essentially hit twice by Val as the system completed a loop on the 8^th. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 December 2003...A tropical depression became Tropical Storm Odette in the Caribbean well south of Kingston, Jamaica, becoming the first December tropical storm of record to form in the Caribbean Sea. Odette made landfall on near Cabo Falso, Dominican Republic on 6 December, causing eight deaths and destroying 35 percent of the banana crop. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
• 5 December 1872...A British brigantine, the DeGratia, discovered the American ship Mary Celeste derelict and boarded her. The Mary Celeste, a brigantine had set sail from New York harbor for Genoa, Italy, on 5 November 1872. Everyone aboard the Mary Celeste had vanished-her captain, his family, and its 14-man crew. The ship, which appeared to have been abandoned for approximately nine days, was in perfect order with ample supplies and there was no sign of violence or trouble. The fate of the crew remains unknown. (Infoplease.com) (Wikipedia)
• 5 December 1492...The explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, which now contains the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (Wikipedia)
• 5 December 1949...A typhoon struck fishing fleet off Korea; several thousand men reported dead. (Infoplease.com)
• 6 December 1830...The US Naval Observatory, the first U.S. national observatory, established as the Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, DC, under commander of Lieutenant Louis Malesherbes Goldsborough. Its primary mission was to care for the U.S. Navy's chronometers, charts and other navigational equipment. (Naval Historical Center)

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Prepared by DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@aos.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2015, The American Meteorological Society.